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Tag: Inec

  • INEC to reposition polling booths to check vote-buying

    Polling booths are to be positioned in a way to make it difficult for people to see how voters cast their votes during elections, a Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji, said yesterday in Awka, Anambra State.

    Orji, the REC in charge of Anambra State, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the measure was to make it impossible for anyone to know who an electorate voted for.

    The measure comes against the backdrop of massive vote-buying reported in recent elections, including the governorship election in Ekiti State, which analysts said was characterised by vote-buying.

    “The commission is considering re-arranging the way polling booths are positioned during elections, to make it difficult for anybody to see the place a voter voted,” Orji said.

    He described vote-buying as another big threat to democracy that needed everyone to support INEC to eradicate.

    “INEC cannot check the problem of vote -buying alone. It is a crime that security agents, the public who collect the money and politicians who buy the votes must come together to tackle.”

    The INEC chief urged eligible persons, who were yet to register in the ongoing continuous voter registration in Anambra, to do so before the August 17 deadline.

    He said the registration would not be extended beyond August 17, adding: “From today we have 1,985 days to the general election.”

    Orji said on August 17, INEC would issue notice of election, indicating that the 2019 general election was good to go and that party primaries would follow between this month and next month.

    “In Anambra State, the registration is now taking place from Sunday to Saturday, beginning from 9am to 5pm daily and our officials are in the 21 local governments.

    “We have functional machines, enough manpower and materials for the exercise and we encourage eligible persons to take advantage of this opportunity to register.”

    The REC, who stressed the importance of enlightenment and voter education to successful elections, enjoined the media to do more in educating Nigerians on electoral activities, ahead of the elections.

    On uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), he said INEC did not have many uncollected PVCs in Anambra, but advised those yet to pick theirs to come and collect them.

    “We intend to photocopy the uncollected PVCs in our custody and paste them for public viewing. After that we will send bulk SMS to the owners because we want everybody to have his PVC before the elections,” Orji said.

  • PDP tasks INEC over PVCs ‘found’ in Daura’s home

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the alleged discovery of thousands of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the home of the sacked Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura.

    The party also said the alleged discovery was an indictment on INEC and has placed a huge doubt over its integrity and capacity to conduct free and fair elections in the country.

    In a statement issued on Monday by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP called on the National Assembly to immediately commence investigation into the matter, with the view to establishing the veracity or otherwise of the allegation.

    “The PDP notes that since the news of the sordid discovery broke, neither the INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, nor any other officer of the Commission, had offered any explanation to Nigerians, a development that suggests the Commission’s complicity in the allegation,” the party said.

    The PDP urged the INEC chairman to stop playing the ostrich, come out clean and inform Nigerians how thousands of electoral materials as sensitive as PVCs, under his watch, found their way into Daura’s home.

     

  • INEC budget: Saraki, Dogara yet to decide when to reconvene NASS

    The leadership of the National Assembly met on Monday evening to resolve the stalemate over need to reconvene on the 2019 general election N242b supplementary budget of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Yussuff Lasun, had shortly after the meeting of the leadership over the same matter last week, said the federal lawmakers would reconvene today or tomorrow for the consideration of the supplementary budget.

    INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud had earlier warned that the Commission stand to lose six month window for the procurement of some sensitive equipment to prosecute the election if the bill was not considered and passed within this period.

    The National Assembly is expected to resume from its two-month vacation on September 25.

    However, the political crisis currently rocking the National Assembly through defections and impeachment allegations has thrown the proposed emergency resumption into confusion.

    Chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity, Abdulrazak Namdas, who spoke with our reporter on Monday on phone confirmed that the National Assembly would not reconvene on Tuesday because the leadership was yet to reach a decision over it.

    He said: “We are not reconvening on Tuesday. This is because we are yet to make a decision over it, we are still meeting. As a matter of fact, the leadership will meet later on Monaday or Tuesday to decide when to reconvene”.

    When asked if the leadership of the political parties in both chambers have formally presented their reasons to the leadership to reconvene the Assembly since there was no national media advertisement to that effect, Namdas said he believed the right steps have been taken.

    “Everyone is aware of the rule book said on the procedure for this sort of sitting, I believe the right steps must have been taken, no one would do anything outside what is prescribed in the rule book,” the House Spokesman added.

  • INEC releases 9, 750 PVCs in Ilorin West

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ilorin West, Kwara, has released a total of 9,750 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for those that registered in 2017.

    Alhaji Abu Uffene, Electoral officer, Ilorin West, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in his office, on Monday.

    He said that out of 9, 750 PVCs that were released by the Commission, 5, 354 had been collected by their owners, while 4, 396 PVCs were yet to be collected.

    He, therefore, advised those that registered for PVC in Ilorin West to come forward to collect their cards.

    “We are going through stress keeping PVCs for people, as we do physical counting of PVCs every day.

    “3, 273 people applied for transfer as a result of change of location of residence, to enable them access polling unit easily, on election day.

    “While some have relocated to another state, so they will have to seek for transfer to that place, in which another PVC will be issued to them, with the new address on it, and the old one will be retrieved,” he said.

    The electoral officer said that INEC started registering people for PVC since April 27, 2018 and there are lots of people that are yet to register for the card.

    “Ilorin West has the highest number of population in Kwara, so when we started, we were given only one machine for registration, but due to the population, it has been increased to four registration machines.

    “We have registered 23, 711 for PVCs and there are still many people that are yet to be registered, so we decide to work on weekends.

    “There are 12 wards in Ilorin West, so we divided them into two wards per day, while three wards register on Thursday and Friday, to enable us register people across the 12 wards, and on weekends, anybody from the 12 wards can register,” he said.

    He said that their major problem was the crowd, saying that they were disorganized and not patient, which has resulted into fight among the people wishing to register on many occasions and thereby disturbing the official work.

    The electoral officer called for more presence of security agencies to maintain order at the registration centres.

  • INEC urges collection of PVCs in Akwa Ibom

    The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) in Akwa Ibom has urged electorate in the state to mobilise themselves in order to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

    Mr Mike Igini, Resident Electoral Commissioner(REC), told our reporter in Uyo on Monday stressed “that without PVC one cannot vote in the 2019 general elections.“

    He further advised political stakeholders in the state to mobilise the electorate by providing them with transport to enable collect their PVCs at various local governments.

    “You all know how you assisted to mobilise the people to register by mobilising them from various local governments, using vehicles to bring them to the centres.

    “Please do well enough to mobilise them to various local governments, offices are open as a matter of fact because of the need to suspend the exercise on Aug. 17,“Igini said.

    The REC noted with concern that the state had not attained 50 per cent of PVCs collection in the state.

    “No individual can vote without PVC but unfortunately there has been very poor response to collection, this should be a matter of concern to all stakeholders.

    “So far, only 24, 420 have been collected out of 145, 737 PVCs printed and delivered to the state.“

    According to him, 17 per cent of PVCs has been collected in the state.

    He said that there was urgent need for critical stakeholders to sensitise and galvanise voters to collect their PVCs because “no PVC no voting” in 2019.“

    Igini said that the commission had earlier announced the extension of Saturday and Sunday for the collection of PVCs across the 31 local government areas to accommodate as many people as possible.

    He implored political parties to commence the process of identifying who would be their party agents at various polling units across the state.

  • 2019: INEC budget stuck as Senate won’t reconvene

    Senators and House of Representatives members were yet to confirm last night whether or not the two chambers will reconvene tomorrow to consider the 2019 elections budget.

    The Chairman of the National Assembly, Dr. Bukola Saraki, was yet to announce that the lawmakers should reconvene.

    Also, there are indications that if the two chambers reconvene, the Senate may end up merely concurring with the report of the House Committee on the 2019 poll budget for the Independent National Electoral Commission( INEC).

    The House Committee, chaired by Hon. Aisha Dukku, is said to have concluded the consideration of the budget before the abrupt recess of the National Assembly on July 24.

    Many senators and House members, who were hitherto set for summer and Hajj rites, remain in Abuja  because there is no word from the National Assembly’s leadership.

    A member of the House from the Northwest said: “This budget is important but there is anxiety everywhere on the security implications of recalling members.

    “From the look of things, our leaders are looking at all options on how to make the ratification of the budget easier.”

    A principal officer of the House, who spoke in confidence, said: “We have not been told when the National Assembly will reconvene to consider the poll budget. I know the Speaker assured INEC Chairman Mahmud Yakubu last week that we will give the budget a speedy consideration. We are awaiting a recall announcement.

    “So far, Tuesday does not look practicable. The basic challenge is the crisis of confidence among members of the two chambers.

    “I think the National Assembly leadership is trying to manage the tempers arising from the defections  and the seige to the Assembly complex last week. We are also talking to ourselves to allow reason to prevail.”

    House Rule V(18) (1-3) says: “18. (1) Whenever the House shall stand adjourned to a date not fixed and it is represented to the Speaker by the Leaders of the political Parties in the House that the House shall meet on a certain day at a certain time, the Speaker shall give notice accordingly and the House shall meet on the date and at the time stated in the notice.

    (2) “Whenever the House stands adjourned either to a date fixed by Resolution or the Rule of the House, and it is represented by the Leaders of the Political Parties in the House to the Speaker that the public interest requires that the House should meet on an earlier or a later date or time than that on which it stands adjourned, the Speaker may give notice accordingly, and the House shall meet on the date and at the time stated in the notice.

    (3) “Whenever the Speaker shall have given notice in accordance with either of the two preceding paragraphs, the Clerk shall  communicate the terms of the notice to each member. “

    Senate Leader Ahmad Lawan said: “I am still waiting to be informed by the President of the Senate on whether we will sit on Tuesday or not.

    “Well, I will expect the Senate President to talk to me or call. I have not received any communication yet.

    “And normally, an announcement is supposed to be made. We have not heard of any as I speak with you.”

    But there were indications at the weekend that if the two chambers reconvene, the Senate may end up merely concurring with the report of the House Committee on the 2019 poll budget for INEC.

    A member of the committee said: “The House Committee has fine-tuned the budget  in readiness for its consideration at the plenary.

    “To save time, the leaders of the two chambers were said to have agreed to adopt the budget ratified by the House.

    “Since the Senate is the hotbed of legislative crisis now, the chamber might only sit to concur with the report of the House.

    “What the Assembly leadership is planning is to have a brief sitting on the budget. But we are all in suspense on when we will reconvene. We have not been notified of any sitting on Tuesday.”

  • We introduced security features to curb ballot stuffing – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Saturday it has introduced security features on the ballot papers to curb stuffing.

    The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi State, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists.

    Abdullahi visited some polling centres in Bauchi Southern Senatorial District to monitor the conduct of the by-election in the state.

    “For the first time, we have coded our ballot papers and result sheets according to ward and local government configuration.

    “For instance, you cannot transfer the ballot papers from one local government area or one ward to the other.

    “Because they all have unique identities, therefore, it is very difficult for anybody to stuff ballot,” he said.

    On the conduct of the polls, Abdullahi said the election has been very peaceful, though few technical hitches expected in any operations were tackled appropriately.

    According to him, voters affected by the technical hitches will be given opportunity to cast their votes.

    He said there were enough security agents in all the polling units to maintain law and order.

    NAN

     

     

  • Why it’s difficult to prosecute electoral law violators  — INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday listed political interference and  lack of human and material resources as some of the major factors hindering the successful prosecution of electoral offences in the country.

    A National Commissioner of the organization, Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu,  who gave the reasons at a two-day training on prosecution of election offences in Akwanga,Nasarawa State ,however, said  there is no better time than now to prevent, curtail and manage various electoral offences.

    Agbamuche -Mbu, who is also the Chairperson, Legal Services of the commission, said:”Our capacity in terms of resources and personnel is simply not large enough to prosecute offences in 120,000 polling units; 8,809 wards, 360 federal constituencies, 109 senatorial districts and 774 local government areas.”

    She added: “Political interference is also a factor such as instances where Attorneys-General file nolle prosequi for such cases, rendering the commission powerless.

    “Now, more than ever, there is the need to prevent, curtail and manage various offences.

    “Recent happenings in Ekiti State during the just-concluded governorship election have thrown up the need for a closer look at our prosecutorial efforts in the area of electoral offences.

    “Vote buying has become an issue as witnessed in the Ekiti State governorship election and INEC cannot stand aloof and allow its efforts in planning successful election be thrown into disrepute. We must protect the secrecy and sanity of the vote.

    “Prosecution of offences is fraught with many difficulties. Traditionally, the police are charged with the duty of investigating these offences, yet we find that the officers who witnessed the offence and made the arrest are moved out of location after the election.”

    The INEC official expressed optimism that participants at the training would brainstorm on issues of adequacy of the law in prosecution of electoral offences, capacity of the staff to handle such capacity and willingness of police to investigate and stringency of penalties, among others.

    Agbamuche-Mbu restated the commitment of the commission to conduct free, credible and acceptable election as well as prosecuting electoral offences.

    Over 100 INEC legal personnel and police officers drawn from the six geo-political zones of the country are attending the training which is organised and sponsored by the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES).

    Earlier, Mr Rudolf Elbling, the Project Coordinator, ECES Nigeria, said that that the training was to boost the confidence of the legal officers and positively reposition them in handling election petitions.

    Elbling, who was represented by Maria Teresa Mauro, the Senior Election Expert (Legal), ECES Nigeria, restated the centre’s commitment to continue to support INEC and other organisations for democratic governance in Nigeria.

  • INEC to employ over 15,000 ad hoc workers for Osun governorship poll

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Osun State has said it will employ over 15,000 ad hoc workers for the conduct of the September 22 governorship election.

    INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Osun State, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, broke the news yesterday at a stakeholders’ meeting with party leaders in Osogbo, the state capital.

    He said the commission would do everything possible to conduct a free and fair election in the state.

    Agbaje said the commission had recruited over 14,000 out of the over 15,000 ad hoc workers needed for the election.

    The REC said INEC had engaged different ad hoc workers’ sources, such as the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Federal establishments and tertiary institutions in the state.

    He added: “As we speak, we have sourced over 90 per cent of the ad hoc workers who will participate in the conduct of the election.

    “The NYSC management promised us over 8,000 of their youth corps members. They will form the large chunk of our ad hoc workers.

    “The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) has provided us with 3,000 personnel/students, while the Federal Polytechnic at Ede has assured us of 2,000 personnel, plus students, out which 1,500 has been received.

    “The over 70 other Federal establishments in the state would also be providing us with 1,000 of their members who will participate in the conduct of the election.”

    Agbaje urged the 48 political parties that will take part in the election to advise the electorate to collect their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) for the election.

    The REC said INEC had been carrying out voter education and public enlightenment campaigns, adding that many PVCs were yet to be collected by registered voters.

    He said about 540,658 PVCs were still with the commission and enjoined voters in the state to come out and collect their PVCs.

     

  • Osun 2018: INEC promises free, transparent poll

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Osun State, Mr. Segun Agbaje, on Thursday assured that the Independent National Electoral Commission  would conduct a transparent and violence-free election in September 22 Osun State.

    Speaking at a meeting with the stakeholders including the governorship candidates, their running mates and party officials, he called for their cooperation.

    Agbaje said the INEC would  collaborate with security agents to prevent vote buying during the poll.

    Read Also: 2019: INEC meets NASS leadership over budget

    The INEC boos, who said telephones would be allied to be used by voters during the election, revealed that many electorate after calling money from politicians will use the device to snap images of where they have voted as an evidence of keeping to an agreement with them.

    According to him, vote-buying was an electoral offense punishable under the law.

    He said: “We won’t allow any voter to go to the polling booths with cell phones. So, if nobody carries his phone to vote there won’t be anything to show that this where they cast their votes.”